


After the Feast

by Nekuyo



Series: And Then What? [1]
Category: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Genre: F/M, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Not Beta Read, Talking, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28378014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nekuyo/pseuds/Nekuyo
Summary: Just a short scene of Martha and Grinch talking after the feast when all the Whos have finally left.
Relationships: The Grinch/Martha May Whovier
Series: And Then What? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080200
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25





	After the Feast

**Author's Note:**

> Well.... Here's a thing.

Too many people, Grinch decided. That was the problem. There were just way too many people. And they were all... here. 

When they were all sitting down at a table and distracted by food it hadn’t been quite so bad. They had all been contained. But then they all started milling about and wanting to chat, and Grinch didn’t have anything to chat about. And they were looking around his cave. The young ones got into his workshop and played with his tools, the older ones eyed the... what they probably politely dubbed the ‘decor’ that was strewn about the place with curiosity. It seemed rather rude if you asked him.

Honestly, Grinch was starting to regret the very... open floor plan of his cave, now that there were so many people in it. His bed was just hanging there, off of a group of stalactites in the corner. There were a few curtains hung between the largest part of the cave and the bedroom of course, but they weren’t designed to keep anyone out and didn’t do much to deter anyone from snooping.

As it turned out, being a hermit for a few decades and then suddenly inviting the entire town over was exhausting, and stressful, and a terrible idea. Grinch wasn’t mentally or physically equipped to be a host. Thankfully, the Whos all seemed to have intuited that the cave had no amenities and so they had brought their own. For everything else, however, they asked… Martha?

Grinch wasn’t going to pretend that that wasn’t confusing. Maybe her relationship with the Mayor had made her something of a ‘first lady’ of Whoville, so people naturally thought of her as an event coordinator? She seemed to enjoy the job anyway, so Grinch hadn't minded her taking over.

Even though Grinch hadn’t been required to do much of the heavy lifting, it was still a relief when the party finally seemed to be coming to an end. 

Grinch watched as all the Whos finally started trickling out of the cave. Some decided to hike down the mountain and others opted for the chute, depending on how full they were and how well they thought they could stomach the motion, but most importantly they were all leaving. 

Many of the Whos had tried to offer to stay and clean up. Grinch had a hard time explaining to them why that was an ultimately pointless task without making it seem like he lived in complete squalor. After all, he was likely going to be eating these leftovers (and the dishes they came in) for a while, and anything else left here was probably going to be put to good use eventually.

He finished bidding the Lou Whos goodbye. Cindy Lou wouldn’t leave without securing a promise from him that he wouldn't be a stranger and would visit town a bit more often instead of wallowing in his house all the time. 

"Yeah yeah, whatever," He agreed. 

"Baby steps, Cindy," Betty Lou gently reminded the girl when she was about to start pouting.

Well, it was nice to know that the more sensible Whos didn't expect a miraculous change overnight. Because they weren't getting one.

With that, he pulled the lever and sent them all down the chute. As their screaming voices faded he let out the relieved sigh he'd been holding in for the last hour of departures. 

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's the last of them Max. About time too. I know I said I'd turn over a new leaf and all that but really, what WAS I thinking? The whole town? Don't let me ever get carried away with a grand gesture like that ever again," Grinch said as he walked away from the door. 

He pushed the down button for the conveyor elevator and hopped on. Max barked before running over to the stairs to follow him.

"Okay okay, it was a suitable good will gesture. But this place is really only big enough for two." Grinch replied. He hopped off the conveyor and hit the button that made it stop. He took off his belt and started unbuttoning his Santa coat. It had been comfortable enough when he first put it on, but he was tired and it was starting to get too warm. He was ready to get out of it after such a long day. 

Max barked again as he caught up with his owner.

"Well, maybe the occasional visitor couldn't hurt. One at a time though, no more crowds." Grinch finished undoing the buttons on his coat as he strode across the room. 

Max gave a quieter bark that sounded knowing.

"No I was NOT thinking of--" Grinch pushed through the curtains to his bedroom. "Martha!!" He yelped as he caught sight of the Who standing in the middle of his bedroom. 

Martha May jumped a little and turned to face him. 

“Oh! There you are. Has… has everyone else gone?” Martha asked. She shyly tucked a few strands of hair that had fallen out of her updo behind her ear. Grinch wasn’t sure if she meant to sound hopeful or alarmed, but she had somehow managed both. Her eyes went to the floor but then raised again, not quite getting to his face. Her face turned pink and she looked away. 

Grinch knew that the sudden attack of embarrassment that hit him was ridiculous. He regularly went around without clothes. He had never needed them. But the shy, heated look Martha May had just given him had him pulling his red coat closed again and fumbling to button it back up. This struck him as doubly ridiculous since it didn’t even cover anything he would’ve classified as important, but he wasn’t in the mood to question his sudden onset of modesty. 

When Martha dared to look at him again and had an air of expectancy it took a moment for him to remember that she’d asked a question.

“What? Oh… Yeah. Just managed to get rid of the last of them,” Grinch answered. He eyed her suspiciously. “I thought you’d left a while ago yourself?" He mentioned, hopefully casually. Martha blushed again.

“Oh… I had intended to. I just… Well, I guess I got curious. I didn’t mean to be…. nosy,” Martha managed to get out. 

Ah. A snooping Who who just wanted to get a peek into the Grinch’s lair. Grinch was glad to be in slightly familiar territory. He found he couldn’t muster up the same sort of derision for Martha May as he did for the teenage thrill seekers that occasionally wandered up the mountain. Her curiosity was more…. flattering than aggravating. Something he even recalled longing for and daydreaming about in years past. But now that he had it he wasn’t sure what to do with it. 

“I can’t tell you how many years I spent thinking about--” Martha started when it seemed like Grinch wasn’t going to say anything. Her already pink face got redder. “I-I mean after you ran away I spent years worrying about whether or not you were okay! So many people thought you’d frozen to death up here. It was rather a relief when the rumors started.”

“I’m sure I can think of a few who were pretty disappointed,” Grinch grumbled under his breath.

“I guess I was just wondering… how you were faring up here. This sort of life you chose to live for so long, instead of… instead of coming back down,” Martha soldiered on, trying to explain. 

Grinch snorted in derision, but then felt guilty when Martha deflated a little. He hurried to reassure her.

“I suppose…” Grinch walked forward, closing the gap between them. “That if it had occurred to me that anyone would miss me, I might’ve been inclined to… visit occasionally.” He touched her arm hesitantly, and gently rubbed it. Martha smiled and leaned closer to him. “But I can’t imagine ever wanting to live in Whoville again.” Martha tilted her head and frowned. 

“Why not?” She asked. Grinch blinked, taken aback by being asked a question with such an obvious answer. 

“Because... I don’t like it?” He answered, unsure of what kind of answer she was looking for. 

“....Oh,” Martha said. Apparently his answer wasn’t satisfactory. 

Grinch sighed. He scratched his neck and looked around the room. His eyes landed on the recliner. He led Martha over to it and sat her down. He took a step back and threw his arms wide.

“Do I look anything like a Who?” Grinch asked. 

“That doesn’t matter to me!” Martha insisted. Grinch smiled. 

“Reassuring, thank you, but not what I asked,” He said. “Do I look anything like a Who?” He asked again.

Martha May crossed her arms and pouted, then got a devious look on her face. She leaned forward in the chair and took her time looking him up and down. She'd never really gotten the chance to examine him closely without feeling like she was being highly inappropriate, but as he was practically inviting her…

His body was completely green and covered with fur that she had recently discovered to be incredibly soft. Her fingers twitched with the desire to card through it. His face somewhat resembled that of a Who, if the nose had been squished into the face a bit. There were undeniably a few things off about it though. Whos, for example, didn’t have yellow eyes or whiskers. 

“Perhaps vaguely,” Martha May answered after a bit. “If you took a Who and combined them with a large jungle cat.”

Between the look in her eyes as she’d been ogling him and the tone of approval in her voice Grinch was fairly certain she found the comparison to be quite…. appealing. Grinch had to clear his throat before he could continue.

"My point being, although I am vaguely who-shaped… I am not, nor ever will be, a Who," Grinch explained. "As such, attempting to live as the Whos do, is nothing short of completely uncomfortable." 

"Is it really?" Martha asked.

"Absolutely!" Grinch exclaimed, swinging his arms wide. He started pacing as he listed off the reasons. "The food you all eat consists mostly of disgusting sugary moosh I can't stand, Whoville is too bright all the time and it smells terrible, and don't get me started on clothes! Do you know how much that ridiculous school uniform we had to wear itched? I destroyed several of them just on principle when I was little… until the old biddies said that if I didn't wear it I wouldn't be allowed to go to school at all. I have fur, thank you very much, what do I need clothes for??"

Martha May was gaping at him. Perhaps he hadn't needed to explain himself quite so… emphatically. 

"So… No. I don't think I would enjoy moving back to Whoville." He concluded awkwardly. 

"Ah," Martha replied.

There was a moment of awkward silence. 

"Well, thank you for... answering the question. Even if the answer suddenly brings several more questions to mind," Martha finally said. Grinch groaned. 

"You're in my chair, scoot over," He said, rather than engaging her in more conversation. 

Martha May hurried to maneuver herself out of the way as Grinch situated himself in the recliner. After some shuffling, and pulling her skirts out from under him, she was sitting less on the recliner and more on his lap. She didn't mind. She leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her.

"I have been awake for the last forty-eight hours, and doing waaaay more socializing than I ever intended to for the last twelve. So if any of those questions are going to result in long or serious discussions, I vote they wait until I've had some sleep," Grinch said. 

Martha May went through the questions in her head and discarded them one by one as too complicated for right now. She stumbled upon a rather silly one, and being that she was somewhat tired herself she decided to ask it.

"Do you think I smell bad?" She asked. 

"Huh?" Grinch grunted in confusion.

"You said Whoville smells terrible. Whoville usually smells like fresh baked cookies, since someone is usually baking them. My perfume is 'Sugar Cookie Surprise'. Do you think I smell bad?" She elaborated. 

"I hadn't really noticed," Grinch confessed. 

Now that she was on top of him and the opportunity presented itself he buried his face in her neck and sniffed. Martha gasped in shock. After a couple more sniffs, and a slightly teasing nuzzle, Grinch pulled back. He grinned as Martha dazedly tried to smooth down the hairs that were standing on end on her freshly exposed neck.

"It's not a great smell, but I don't mind it," He determined.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" 

"Well, put it this way, I'm sitting here smelling like onions and mold and you're still snuggling up to me with no complaint," Grinch pointed out. 

"You don't smell so off-putting that I don't want to," Martha May reasoned. 

"Exactly," Grinch agreed. Martha May thought on that for a moment. 

"I could change my perfume, " She mused out loud.

"Why?" Grinch asked.

"Because you don't like it?" Martha May half explained and half questioned. 

"That's a silly reason," Grinch said as he pushed the recliner into a lying back position and propped his feet on the footrest. "I've never changed to please anybody and neither should you." Grinch insisted.

No one had ever said such a thing to Martha May before. In fact, most of her life seemed to be about rearranging herself to be what other people wanted of her. Being with someone like the Grinch, who seemed to have no demands about who she should be or how she should behave, would take some getting used to. 

"Are you planning on spending the night?" Grinch asked. His eyes were already starting to drift shut. "Or should I start waking up enough to escort you home?" He asked with a yawn.

"I suppose I really should go home," Martha said reluctantly. "People might gossip if I stay…" Actually, she supposed if anyone noticed she'd stayed as late as she had already then they'd be gossiping anyway. Martha wasn't sure if she cared. 

Grinch grunted in acknowledgement and then looked at her pointedly, no doubt waiting for her to get up so that could as well. Martha May considered it, then decided that she couldn't think of any really good reason to. Instead, she shifted on his lap so that she could lay down on top of him and snuggled into his chest. 

"Anyone who is likely to talk is certainly already doing so and I'm sure I don't care," Martha May said decisively. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his coat. 

Martha May tensed a little as she waited for what Grinch might say. To her relief he just chuckled as he sunk further into the recliner and wrapped his arms around her. 

"That's my girl," Grinch said, sounding immensely satisfied. He yawned again. "You'll get a hang of this 'not caring what people think' in no time."

Martha May beamed with satisfaction. That's right. After all those years of waiting she got to be his girl now and she didn't care if that was going to get her funny looks, she wouldn't have it any other way. 

As Grinch drifted off under her and began to snore-- no wait… purr? she thought of what he'd said earlier. How he wasn’t a Who and if given the choice he didn't want to live like a Who. That would complicate things a bit.

'Well, let it never be said that Martha May Whovier wasn't up for a challenge,' she thought to herself as she kicked her heels off onto the floor. She was rather looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely have a lot of thought on Grinch/Martha as a couple, and I have SEVERAL ideas for fanfic content of these two.  
> So if that is something that you think you might want to see, let me know.


End file.
